Growth and yield of direct seeded upland rice varieties as influenced by weed management and organic manure application

Field experiments were conducted on the research farm of Federal University Dutse in the Sudan savannah ecological zone Nigeria to evaluate the performance of upland rice varieties as affected by herbicide and poultry manure application. The two locations lie in the Sudan savanna ecological zone with a mean annual rainfall of 600 mm distributed between May and October. The treatments consisted of three rates of poultry manure (0, 5 and 10 t/ha) and five weed control treatments factorially combined in the main plot while two upland varieties of rice (Nerica and Faro 48) in the sub-plot. The treatments were laid out in a split-plot design with three replications. Application of pendimentaline+one hoe weeding at 6 WAS produced significantly greater plant height, leaf area, leaf area index, length panicle, panicle weight per plant, biological yield and the grain yield of rice than the other rates comparable with the hoe weeded control while the weedy check had the least. The application of 10 t/ha of poultry manure gave significantly greater plant height, leaf area, leaf area index, length of panicle, number of grain per panicle, harvest index and the grain yield of rice than the lowest rates (0 and 5 t/ha). It can be concluded that rice farmers in the sudan savanna zone of Nigeria can adopt 10 t/ha of manure, pendimentaline+one weeding control at 6 weeks after sown and the Faro 48 rice variety since the combination of these treatments gave better weed control, growth and yield of paddy rice.